5-Ingredient Golden Milk Snack Bites

For a while now, I’ve been wanting to recreate the comforting flavors of golden milk in a portable snack.

I theorized a bar might work, but then remembered how very delicious my no-bake cake bites were and I couldn’t get my mind off of golden milk snack bites.

These 5-ingredient balls are packed with warming, anti-inflammatory spices like turmeric and ginger, naturally sweetened with maple syrup, grain- and gluten-free, and come together in about 20 minutes. Oh, and don’t forget the optional coconut butter swirl and “frosting.” Swoon!

Let me show you how it’s done!

These snack bites start with creamy cashew butter, which I consider one of the more neutral and creamy nut butters, making it an ideal base for this recipe. Need to avoid nuts? Check the ingredients section below for substitution ideas.

Next comes a heaping spoonful of my Golden Milk Mix for that warming golden milk flavor, and a sprinkle of hemp seeds for added protein and essential fatty acids. Maple syrup adds a bit of natural sweetness, and coconut flour creates a moldable dough with a little added sweetness and coconut flavor.

Next you can add a dollop of coconut butter for a coconut swirl (optional) and then roll into balls. Enjoy straight from the pan, or refrigerate to chill.

I opted to “frost” these with melted coconut butter. But you could leave them plain or roll them in shredded coconut as well!

These would make the perfect on-the-go snack or healthier treat. I’ve been enjoying one with a cup of hot tea in the afternoon—it’s the perfect pick-me-up. While coconut butter is a delicious “frosting,” I could also see a drizzle of melted dark chocolate making these even more indulgent if you want to serve them as dessert.

Instructions

Add coconut flour a little at a time until a firm cookie dough consistency is reached—not tacky, not crumbly, and moldable into balls.

Taste and adjust flavor as needed, adding more golden milk mix for spice/warmth, or maple syrup for sweetness.

At this point you can add softened/melted coconut butter and stir loosely into the dough for a swirl effect (optional). Otherwise, skip this step.

Scoop out 1 Tbsp amounts and gently roll into balls (as the recipe is written, there should be about 12). Repeat until all dough is formed into balls.

Enjoy as is, roll in shredded coconut, or refrigerate for 10-15 minutes to chill. If desired, after chilling, top with warmed (melted) coconut butter (see photo), then chill again to set (about 10 minutes).

Leftovers will keep stored in the refrigerator up to 1 week (sometimes longer), or in the freezer 1 month.

Golden milk snack balls were my intro to golden milk and I can’t seem to stop myself! I’ve made them about 10 times and usually with some variation on ingredients for the fun of it.
Cashew butter makes for the smoothest flavor, almond butter is also good and half almond-half sun butter to hide the sun butter flavor a bit. Peanut butter is different, but good if you’re expecting peanuts-I used more spice tho, to balance the flavors.
Coconut flour and almond flour are the only flours I’ve experimented with. The ratios are different as you and others noted, and the texture, but equally eat-able!
In double batches I’ve taken to adding about a tablespoon each of Maca powder and ground flax, adjusting the flour at the end for a good consistency.
They are delicious topped with coconut butter and seriously addicting dipped in chocolate. Similar to Reeses if you use pb in the mix! I even tried a maple syrup glaze over coconut butter on the less-sweet batches. 👌🏼
The only hiccup I ran into was due to impatience. In a hurry I threw everything in a bowl without measuring the coconut flour. I ended up with too stiff a consistency and other than adding maple syrup no way to loosen it up. I was out of ingredients but in those cases doubling the batch is my go-to.
All told, the only problem with these is that they are too convenient to eat!
Thank you, Dana!!

I made this yesterday! Although I had to modify based on my ingredients: I used salted cashew butter and left out the pinch of salt. I also made my own coconut flour out of dried coconut flakes and that turned out more coarse than I had anticipated. The mixture was quite wet, it didn’t roll into perfect round balls as I had hoped for. But they are DELICIOUS! I brought them into work and 4 people have tried and like! I also rolled them in crushed raw un-toasted almond bits; the mixture was a bit too sweet for me (I used 3 tbsp of maple syrup, should’ve used 2), so I thought it would help balance out the flavor. Very excited to have a new snack (as well as Golden Milk mixture). It’s very rich though, I can eat about half of a little ball.

I made these with almond butter but otherwise followed the recipe exactly. They’re delightful! I’m a breastfeeding mama that has had to cut dairy for my allergic infant and am always looking for satisfying snacks. These were so quick to make and really hit the mark!

Thank you for this recipe! I can’t have any milks right now but wanted to try the spice mix so badly. I used sunflower seed butter (avoiding nuts right now) and ground flax for hemp seeds as per someone else’s suggestion. I only needed 2 Tbsp of coconut flour since the 2Tbsp of ground flax stiffened up the dough considerably.
Yes you can taste the sunflower seed butter but I’m used to that. Rolled them in u sweetened coconut and now I want to eat the whole platter in one sitting :)

Hi😇I tried these with something called sesame paste, a thicker version of tahini. They are a ma zing❣️❣️
For sweetness, I used date paste. I have not changed the measurements.
I believe the magic is in your golden milk mix. I cannot get enough of it.
Here is a little 🧿 for you💕

Thanks for this recipe!
I subbed cashew butter for tahini and coconot flour for almond flour and maple syrup for agave syrup. However, I would not recommend subbing cashew for tahini –> They turned out very bitter. :-(
I tried countering the bitterness by adding more agave and more golden milk mix, but this only helped a little. Better luck next time ;-)

I made these recently for a party food for friends who have a very strict diet for health reasons. I used hazelnuts as they were what I have on hand and ground them to replace the cashew butter. We dipped them in enjoy life melted chips and everyone thought they were great. I’m enjoying the undipped leftovers. I enjoy being able to get the benenfits of golden milk without the millk. Thanks for a great recipe idea.

These are absolutely delicious. I just love the spice combination, and I enjoy a different approach to consuming turmeric aside from either in the usual Indian/curry dishes or via a drink.

I really enjoyed that I was able to put these together in a standard mixing bowl, as well. I’m so used to energy ball recipes requiring the use of my food processor (because they usually contain dates.) I even caught myself pulling out my food processor. Then I read the directions and said “Oh!” and put it back with some satisfaction.

I wish I could say I made these exactly as the recipe stated, but I made a couple changes:

1. I used plain, un-sweetened protein powder instead of hemp hearts (I just don’t like hemp hearts in sweet dishes. I feel they have a savory flavor that just doesn’t pair well with sweet.)

2. I had to use almond flour as I didn’t have any coconut flour. I ended up adding about an extra 1/4 cup to get the consistency needed to form the balls (thanks for the warning!)

3. While I was adding extra almond flour, I added a tablespoon of ground flax (in place of what would have been extra almond flour.) Did this just for the added omega 3’s. I also imagine they would be a decent replacement to the hemp hearts/protein powder if you wanted.

4. I added about a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Because, vanilla. :)

5. I used a store-bought brand of coconut butter for the swirl-in called Binnie’s Very Vanilla Coconut Butter. It’s pretty divine (but insanely expensive – between the cashew butter and this, these were some expensive little snack bites haha.)

These were absolutely delicious. I plan to make them again. Maybe trying it out with less expensive almond butter the next go-around, and probably leaving out the coconut butter (unless I make my own.) But that cashew butter really makes ’em good. Cashews are just naturally sweet so they work so good with this recipe.

Amazing recipe!!!!! I will absolutly make this again (and again and again and again)!!! My food processor isn’t very powerfull so the coconut butter wasn’t very buttery, but it still worked for this recipe :)

Okay so I’ve made this twice and they were sooo good!! I did alter quite a few things though based on what I had.
The first time I used sesame seeds instead of hemp seeds and oat flour instead of coconut (you do have to add a bit more but not much, maybe a tablespoon or so) and they turned out fantastic!
The second time I used half chia half flax seeds instead of the hemp seeds, oat flour instead of the coconut flour and your caffeine free chai spice mix in place of the golden milk mix(I am such a sucker for chai spice and i couldn’t resist 😆) and these were soooo goooood this way! Especially when rolled in cocoa powder! 😋

So, I have a confession. When I made my last batch (with the almond flour and almond butter), I fell in love. So did my neighbors! The spice mixture was reminiscent of an Italian spice cookie from my childhood. I have tried many attempts to make it but it just wasn’t special enough.

I followed your gold milk bites again (with the almond flour and almond butter). I added unsweetened cocoa, a bit more maple syrup and some small vegan chocolate chips. I also added more clove as that was the spice that peaked my memory. They came out sublime. Thanks, Dana for giving me a memory of my childhood!

Sorry I need some clarification — I jumped over to your Golden Milk recipe and wanted to double check — when you say use my Golden Milk Mix do you mean dry ingredients or all the ingredients from the recipe — make it and then use in this recipe. Sorry… silly question I just wanted to check because it would be great if you could make the mix ahead and have on hand and just add the oils and milk when ready to have a glass.

These are fantastic! I made the recipe as written, using half vanilla protein powder (I use Bob’s Red Mill per your recommendation- love it!) and half hemp seed hearts, then rolled in shredded coconut. So easy, and so delicious! Planning to make them again this weekend, and will probably double the batch this time so I can freeze some for later. I also like the suggestion from Jan to add raisins in the center- yum! Thanks! :)

Just made these yesterday – delicious and I love the texture! I kept it around 2.5 tbsp maple syrup and it was perfect. I plan to add cardamom to my next batch because I’m obsessed with it lately. Artisana brand raw cashew butter was great – no added sugar and nice and creamy! My first time using cashew butter and I’m a fan. Thanks for a great recipe!

I have never try to make golden milk this way, but I have a nice idea for cooking it as a creamy meal and I’ll share the recipe on my veg-a-cream.com blog for some days. I wanna try your golden milk balls, but, unfortunately, I live in Poland and there is very hardly to find cashew butter and it’s very expensive 😕

Of course, I may try with very popular peanut butter! And I think, that Poland is a very strange-vegan country, because there is a lot of vegan restaurants and vegan options in menu the others (for example Warsaw is the second city, which has the most of vegan restaurants), but there is very few, almost no vegan products in the stores.

Holy moly, these are just as divine as I was hoping. Used TJ cashew butter, almond flour (had no coconut flour) and added some vanilla protein powder. So flavorful! I hope they hold up in my pack for my bike rides. Otherwise I’ll probably just stuff them into dates which make a natural package. Did anyone else hear the tiny voice saying, “Poke some raisins into the center!” Wow, thank you Tiny Voice and Dana! Deeee-licious.

I made this using almond flour (1/2 cup), sunflower butter and chia seeds, I doubled the golden milk seasoning, used 4TBS maple syrup and added a splash of vanilla extract. Delicious!! Super glad to have a ”portable” Golden milk snack! Thank you,Dana—your recipes are always fantastic!

Just made these and they are lovely, Dana. I used Gaia Golden Milk Mix, and since I was short on cashew butter by about two tablespoons, I made up for it by adding a packet of Justin’s Maple Almond butter. I also used almond flour, and you were right, I needed about two more tablespoons to get the perfect consistency. I used a mini ice cream scoop and got about 15 bites. I rolled half of them in shredded coconut, and the other half I dipped in coconut butter. Since I used Artisana brand, it tends to be runnier than home made coconut butter. Thanks again, for yet another great recipe! I appreciate your hard work, dedication, and attention to detail. 🧡, Franny

Loved this! Used closer to 2.5-3 tbsp maple syrup, and about 1.5 tsp in my milk mix, and it came out great. Not too sweet but enough sweetness that I think many tastebuds can enjoy. I added more milk mix to it too, as the flour leaves it a bit drier and I wanted to try with more of the delicious ‘milk’. I also used a brand of coconut milk that is a staple for me but I’ll be trying with almond or almond x coconut next time. Only disappoint is these are tiny! I had to make two batches. You’ll get about 6-7 ‘regular’ sized balls, and since I made them again, around 9 smaller ones the other time.

Fantastic! I just made them with a few changes. I didn’t have cashew butter so I substituted almond butter. I didn’t have coconut flour so I used almond meal (I needed about 1 cup, just like you said, Dana). I also added a pinch of orange zest. I already ate two on the way to refrigerate them. Wow!!! Thanks, Dana!

I used tahini and brown rice flour because that is what I had at the house. They turned out so good! It was hard not to just eat all the mix before I put the coconut rolled ones into the fridge! What a great snack thank you for this recipe!

I used homemade cashew butter (plain, unsalted cashews blended in a Vitamix) and almond flour instead of coconut flour. I had to almost double the flour and the golden milk mix. Overall tasty and super simple and easy to make!

Hello and I’m Susan Parker. I don’t particularly like using Maple Syrup as I’m a former Type 2 diabetic. However, because Dates are low on the Glycemic Scale as to the higher values in Syrups, would it be acceptable to sub the Dates (as in a Date Paste or Date Butter). I’m thinking the Cashew Butter and the Coconut Flour would need to be decreased just a bit to accommodate for the denser texture of the Date Paste/Butter as opposed to the Maple Syrup.

I’m thinking of giving this a try tonight and seeing what the results look like.

Also before in other recipes, ive cut back on the Coconut Flour and have sifted into it the Chick Pea Flour to add an extra boost of protein.